Southwest Wyoming Off-Road Trails (SWOT) has a vision: “connecting the communities of Southwest Wyoming with a series of off-road motorized trails.”
SWOT was started by Mark Tesoro of Evanston, who visited Sweetwater County last week to present SWOT’s goals and begin making connections in the community.
“SWOT is an economic development project for southwest Wyoming,” Tesoro explained to the commissioners.
The project’s goal is to use existing trails and county roads to create a network of connected off-road trails that allow people with ATVs and side-by-sides to access communities throughout Southwest Wyoming. If the communities are accessible, people who come to drive their off-road vehicles will be able to come in, spend money and help local tourism and the economy, Tesoro said.
“The possibilities for economic development are great,” Tesoro said.
The plan is to have a system where people who want to drive across the trail system buy a $15 off-road sticker to put on their vehicle, which gives them access and permission to ride on all the trails and through the connected towns and cities.
Tesoro explained that trail systems like this already exist in many other states, including several of Wyoming’s neighboring states. The Garfield County Trail system in southern Utah is one example Tesoro knows of that brings in many riders and has great economic impact in the area.
People are looking for places to ride, and often come to the West to do so, according to Tesoro. The off-road industry has also seen an increase in recent years, particularly during the pandemic, and it can even be hard to purchase an off-road vehicle because of their popularity right now, Tesoro said.
SWOT not only takes advantage of the desire for places to ride off-road vehicles, but is generally a great way to increase tourism in our area, Tesoro said. He pointed out Southwest Wyoming has often been a “pass through” area for people on their way to places like Yellowstone, but he hopes the trail system would be a good way to bring people here.
“We have our own exciting and historical stuff to see in Southwest Wyoming,” Tesoro said, pointing out the various landscapes and historic sites that exist throughout the area. “Connect the communities, connect the forests, and connect the historical sites” has been SWOT’s motto and focus from the beginning.
Tesoro said he first had the idea for a trail system close to two years ago. He presented the idea to Uinta county commissioners and was told to run with it. Tesoro reached out to Rick Schuler, a past Forest Service district ranger in Evanston whom he had worked with before, and they put together a working group of interested individuals including government officials, business owners, industry representatives and more.
SWOT’s plans gained ground locally in Uinta County. Evanston city officials adopted an ordinance to allow ATVs and side-by-sides to drive on city streets. Uinta county commissioners also adopted county roads into the trail system, which currently provides access from Evanston to the Bridger Valley. Many communities throughout Southwest Wyoming are also making changes to make SWOT’s vision a reality.
“The other communities, once they heard about what we were doing, also said ‘we want to be on board with this,’” Tesoro said.
Lyman, Mountain View, Kemmerer, La Barge and Marbleton have also adopted an ordinance to allow off-road vehicles on city streets.
Carbon and Lincoln Counties have both enrolled their trails in the project, and Uinta County has enrolled most trails and is working on getting the rest.
One challenge in Uinta County has been connecting Evanston to the trails around it, since the city doesn’t have a county road that goes directly into it. There are 1,000 miles of trails in Evanston waiting for a 3 mile connection, according to Tesoro. To address this problem, SWOT has been working with the Wyoming Department of Transportation.
Sandra Sanderson, who does special projects for WYDOT, explained to the county commissioners that the work they are doing to achieve SWOT’s goal in Uinta County is unprecedented, but they are finding a way to make it happen.
“All the way up to the very highest levels of the state are working on this project with us,” Tesoro said.
Forrest Kamminga, the Wyoming State Trails manager, and Chris Floyd, the director of the Wyoming Office of Outdoor Recreation, have also been working with SWOT and were present at the county commission to give their support and explain their involvement in the project.
“We share some common goals with SWOT in the outdoor rec office,” Floyd said, noting the project is focused on not just attracting people to southwest Wyoming but doing it the right way and practicing responsible recreation. Floyd also explained SWOT’s plan to enroll trails in the state program wouldn’t change the access of anyone who already uses those roads. It would, however, give communities access to a source of funds through things like the ORV sticker program and grants, and those funds could be used for management, signage and law enforcement on county roads, along with other possibilities.
Kamminga discussed how the Wyoming State Trails program has also been working towards similar goals and exists to help land managing agencies, counties and state governments manage responsible motorized recreation throughout the state. The program has already seen how trails can be connected and can provide a revenue source. The current trails program is 100% user-funded, and 95% of funding goes directly to projects, Kamminga said. He foresees trails continuing to be connected throughout the state.
SWOT has also worked with the Bureau of Land Management in considering how a trail system can be created. One question BLM representatives had was whether SWOT wanted to make new roads, but Tesoro explained that no, “these are existing roads” that they would use to make connections between communities. For example, in Uinta County they plan to use the historic Lincoln highway, which is a county road.
Many communities have discussed wanting to diversify revenue, so “what better way to do that than with existing assets?” Tesoro asked. Because the trails are already in existence, the communities can take advantage of them. Sweetwater County alone has thousands of roads that can be used, Tesoro said.
“Many stakeholders have heard about this project and have been excited and on board with what we’re trying to do,” Tesoro said. “So I’m here today to ask the commissioners to consider enrolling all or some of your county roads into the trails project.”
Commission Chairman Randy Wendling said the commissioners would like to take time before making a decision to enroll Sweetwater County’s roads in order to allow Public Works Director Gene Legerski to consider the county’s roads that could be part of the system, and to give the public time to express their opinion.
One Green River resident was present at the county commission meeting to express support for SWOT. Brooke Smith spoke to the commissioners as a representative of the Sweetwater Snowpokes and ATV Club. Smith has been a member of the club since 1972, and said he’s noticed the shift to ATVs being prominent in Sweetwater County. He urged the commissioners to support SWOT’s goals.
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